


Bat girls

by TheGirlwithwings



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26155084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGirlwithwings/pseuds/TheGirlwithwings
Summary: A while back I had a dream about a few Illyrian females running away and starting their own warband in the woods, being all badass and stuff. I decided I didn't want to wait until SJM had published silver flames to see if there was such a thing, and just write a fanfic.English is not my first language. Aside from a smutty fanfic I have never written fanfic before. Im 100% open to feedback and tips, but please be nice.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

I had made a mistake. I made a huge, horrible mistake. And it was going to be my end. Sooner or later, one way or the other I would die, alone and in the cold. I tugged my left wing in a little tighter with my hands, my back straining. I hadn’t used those muscles in so long I wasn’t able to wrap my own wings around me without a lot of tugging, and twisting, and turning. This all without falling off the tree branch I was on, or being noticed by the many creatures roaming this forest. 

My wings formed a huge membranous cocoon, protecting me from the drizzling rain that was leaking through the leaves. I wasn’t really cold, but still I was shuddering. Maybe from the lack of water, food, or sleep. Or maybe because the weight of everything that happened in the last view days came crashing down on me like a boulder. 

I had nothing to do for the rest of the night but sit here, and listen to the monsters hunting and devouring each other on the ground below, while I thought about what I had done. The panic and adrenaline that had pushed me to keep moving, even at night had worn off. I was too tired to move. Too scared. When the others where on my trail I had no choice but to keep moving, and now that I had manage to shake them off I couldn’t move anymore. 

A muscle cramped in my right wing, and I tried softly stretching and massaging it. I felt guilty as I sat there, moving my wings. I was suddenly very aware of the rule that I was breaking. The voice of the camp elder who had taught me and the other girls still echoed in my mind. “Keep your wings neatly tucked in behind your back. Stretching them is not ladylike. It should only be done after dressing to make sure your dress fits properly.” Most of the girls in my camp had learned by then not to fly or show their wings too much. In some other camps young girls where allowed to fly, but in our camp even a female youngling who had flown on pure instinct would be reason enough for the camp elders or the lord to visit her family and punish them. 

Like that my thoughts went to the camp lord. My father. The first time I heard his voice while they were looking for me I almost went back. I was so used to obeying him, to being a good daughter, that I almost forgot I was on the run. It was the sound of his thoughts that stopped me. Mother had told me long ago not to use my powers to read others minds. Gifts like that weren’t meant for females. The cauldron must have made a mistake with gifting me those powers. I was not to use them. Ever. But sometimes thoughts were so loud, I couldn’t help it. 

It were those loud thoughts of my father that either saved me or doomed me, depending on the way you look at it. It was a thunderous storm of horrible, painful plans once they found me. Not just clipping my wings, but cutting them off entirely, crippling me so I wouldn’t ever be able to run away again, taking out my eyes and my tongue, or just executing me to make an example to the others that not even the darling daughter of the camp lord was allowed to disobey. Or he would ship me off to the highest bidder. No decent male would be interested in taking my hand in marriage after this, but maybe someone wanted to take me, this would be the only reason for my father not to permanently damage my body. 

I ran at those thoughts. As fast as my tired legs could carry me, until I couldn’t hear them anymore. And I kept running even after that. I didn’t stop until my legs gave out and I collapsed on the blanket of leaves on the forest floor. At nightfall, when the monsters in the forest came to live, I used the little strength I had left to climb a tree and sit on the highest branch I could reach.

And that’s where I still was. Praying to the mother, and the cauldron, and all others who might help that the night would end soon. Or that my life would end soon. I just wanted to rest. I wanted to be done with all the stress. I knew I wouldn’t survive this, all I could do was hope that it would be painless and quick.

I must have dozed off at some point, because when I opened my eyes it was morning, and I was falling. I was tumbling off the branch, and I don’t know how, but somewhere deep inside me some instinct moved my wings, and the talon at the apex grabbed the branch I had been sitting on moments earlier. 

A horrible pain went trough my body. For a moment I was convinced my wings would tear of my back, and I tried to comfort myself with the knowledge that falling from this high was probably my best change at a peaceful ending. I focused on my happiest memory. The memory of me sitting on my moms lap in front of the open window, looking at the falling stars outside while my mom softly hummed. I started humming the same melody, hoping it would lead me to my mother in the afterworld. 

But my wings didn’t tear off my body. I didn’t fall to the ground. I was stuck. Deep inside me a laugh bubbled to the surface. A maniacal sound that described the insanity of this moment perfectly. I was stuck. I had run away from home so they wouldn’t clip my wings, and now my damned wings had gotten me stuck. There was no way I could get the talons out of the wood of the branch where they were imbedded, not with my entire weight on them. I never even used my wings and I had no idea how to lift hem. 

I would dangle here until either thirst, hunger, some malicious beast, or the males of my camp found me. Either way it would be slow and painful. That laughter of insanity came out of my mouth again, turning in to a scream, and at last turning in to a sob. Someone probably heard it, but I didn’t care anymore. Let them come, and let it be done with. 

At last I heard someone chuckle behind me. “Girl, you fucked up.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Again, please be nice. I’m learning as I go and English is my second language. And any tips on how to better write conversations are very welcome!

I heard someone chuckle behind me. “Girl, you fucked up.” I tried looking over my shoulder, but my wings blocked the view. My heart pounded in my chest. Was it someone from my camp? It had to be. But I didn’t recognize the voice. The possibilities were endless, but none of them were good. A lone traveler who strayed of the path, a monster who could mimic a human voice, or maybe other camps had started to look for me as well. 

There was a rustle of leaves, a loud boom, and a thud on the branch where the talons of my wings had gotten stuck. The owner of the voice had somehow gotten up to the branch in one big jump. No, not a jump. One flap of their wings. I looked up to the Illyrian sitting on the branch, the huge membranous wings behind them, looking at me with a smirk. “Need a hand?” 

Now that I could see her and heard her voice again, I realized that she was female. A female who dared to fly, and curse, and be alone in the woods. I was so shocked I almost forgot to grip her hand. She was strong, stronger than any female I’d ever known. With one pull she nearly flung me over the branch. The muscles in my back were in worse pain than I could’ve ever imagined. I tried to get my talons out of the wood, but in the time I had hanged there they had gotten in to deep. 

The female was still looking at me with that smirk that seemed to be branded on her face. “Are you going to ask for my help, or have they cut your tongue out?” she asked me, clearly amused by my struggle. Everything about her threw me of guard. She reminded me of the males in my camp, after they had gone through the blood rite and had joined a war-band. Like she could take on the world, and she knew it. 

“I…I…I cant get them out.” I said, my voice trembling. “So you can talk! Cauldron bless us all, that makes things easier.” The female said with mocking voice. I cringed a bit, part of me wanted to say that I was not some helpless little girl, but I knew the evidence was against me. The female did seem the notice. “I’m sorry, I’m just kidding. Are you okay with me touching your wings?” her voice softened and her hands hovered near my wings, waiting for my consent. 

I nodded, and with a gentle but firm grip the female jerked my talons out of the wood. I realized that no one else besides me and maybe my mother had ever touched my wings, and only than it had ever been to bathe them. I never really paid attention to how sensitive they were, and even the slight touch of the female send butterflies trough my stomach.

My wings were free, but I didn’t have the energy to tuck them in, and I let them rest on the branch. The female grabbed a pack from underneath her cloak and started talking. “I’ve actually been looking for you, you know? The others told me I shouldn’t, and that I would put myself in danger but I couldn’t help myself. Those bastards following you made it difficult, and you actually did a good job leading them away from you. I followed the scent of your blood as well, only to notice that you where going in to the opposite direction. How did you manage to do that?” she asked, while unpacking food and a bottle of liquid and putting it on the branch between us.

My cheeks heated at the memory, but she waited for me to answer. “It is my first bleeding.” I softly said, and I knew I was turning as red as the morning sun. “And I knew they could smell my blood, so I… I tied a piece of the cloth I had used to a piece of wood and threw it in the river.” I didn’t dare to look up out of embarrassment. 

But the female laughed, she laughed so hard the branch shook. “That’s bloody brilliant! Emphasis on the bloody!” she said while trying to catch her breath. “You’re a survivor, I like it.” She handed me a piece of bread and the bottle of liquid. I was suddenly very aware of the cracks in my lips, the dry scratch in my throat, and the rumbling in my stomach. Without thinking or even waiting I grabbed it and nearly drank half the bottle in one sip. The female look at me. “But you are pretty naïve for a survivor.” She said watching me swallow the bread without chewing. It was not until after she said it that I had taken food and drink from a stranger. And maybe I didn’t even care at this point. I had spent the previous hours dangling from a branch like an overgrown sausage for the monsters in this forest, and I had made my peace with whatever fate would kill me, if it was poison, then so be it. And almost as if in a dare I grabbed the next piece of bread and started chewing while making eye contact with the female.

She grinned at me. “Here’s the deal. I can leave you here with what is left from the food. It should be enough for two days, maybe three if you don’t swallow it whole like that. And after that it is up to you to survive, and maybe we will meet again. Or I can take you with me. I’ll leave at sundown, with or without you.” 

“where will you take me?” I asked. “I can’t tell you that, staying hidden is a big part of survival. But I can tell you that your odds are better with me. For the rest, you will just have to trust me.” The female folded her arms in front of her chest, waiting for my response. 

I didn’t think she would take me back to my camp, or any other camp. No camp leader would trust a female enough to send them to retrieve me alone. And her wings weren’t clipped. I heard the High Lord had forbidden it centuries ago but with most camps there weren’t enough visits from the High Lords court to make sure it didn’t happen. And now, with a new ruler in Prythian, the one who called herself High Queen. Nearly every camp had started to clip the wings of their females again.

No, there was no way this female belonged to a camp. But why had she been looking for me? And why be kind enough to offer me food and help? Maybe she belonged to something worse then an Illyrian camp. I couldn’t even imagine where she might be from. I had never set foot outside my camp until a few days ago. 

She wasn’t looking at me anymore. Instead she was scanning the forest around her, her head leaning back against the tree, while letting her legs swing from side to side next to the branch. I had never seen any female like her. Even with her cloak there was no doubt in my mind that she was very muscular. Her hair wasn’t long like the females in my camp, but shorn short enough that it was nothing more than a black shadow on her tanned skin. She had called me a survivor, but if anyone of us was able to survive it was her. Her eyes met mine again. Both our eyes where hazel, like most Illyrians, but hers were a bit more brown than mine. 

The moment we made eye contact I realized there was no other option. I would go with her. I had no clue how to survive, and if I stayed her I would sooner or later die. Even if she had some devious plan with me, it was still an ‘if’ and not a ‘when’. “I’ll leave with you at night fall.” 

The female got up and jumped down the branch, as if it we weren’t at least four meters high. “Come on, you might want to stretch your legs, we have a long flight ahead of us.” She called up to me. “I can’t jump down like that, and I certainly can’t fly!” Only the idea of being up there in the sky made me nauseous. “Yes you can, you are a badass Illyrian who managed to survive for four days while being hunted. You can manage a little jump. Just tuck your arms and legs in while you jump and bend your knees when you land.” She made it sound so simple, but I hesitated again. Fear colliding in my stomach. “Or you can climb down, but I’m going to look for a good spot to take off and I’m not waiting.” She started walking backwards slowly walking backwards. With the thickness of the forest she would be out of sight in seconds. I had no choice but to jump. I got up, balancing on the branch with my knees trembling. Arms and wings in tight. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. And another deep breath. And another. And I jumped. 

I didn’t have time to think about opening my eyes, or being afraid. It all went so fast. Too fast. I was waiting for my body to hit the ground, probably breaking some bones. But my fall was interrupted. The female had caught me mid air and put me down slowly. “You didn’t bend your knees.” Was all she said before walking off again. I stumbled after her.

“I still can’t fly!” I said, catching my breath while trying to keep up with her tempo, and wrapping my mind around what just happened. “Don’t worry, I’ll carry you tonight. And just so you know, learning how to fall is the first lesson in learning how to fly.” She didn’t even look at me. It was almost infuriating. She seemed to know exactly what was going on and I was absolutely clueless. I was like a baby deer trying to keep up with a mighty stag. 

I had always learned to keep my calm. Anger and fighting was meant for males. Just as flying. I was reminding myself of my composure, not looking where I put my feet, and I fell face first in the muddy leaves on the forest floor. The female in front of me just snorted a laugh and waited for me to get up. 

And I was done. I was completely done with all this. “You could just help me you know? Instead of laugh. I spent the last four days in absolute horror, running away from my home and my family and my friends, all alone in this horrible forest. I smell like a sewer. My entire body hurts. I’m so desperate I’m following you without even knowing your name. And you are laughing at me.” My talking had turned in to yelling at some point, and there were tears running down my face. 

The female had turned to me. “Aïda. now you know my name. But the ones whos names you know, the ones you call your family and friends are out to kill you right now. If I have bad intentions, you knowing my name will not stop me.” She reached her hand to me and I grabbed it. “Keep that fire burning, girl. You will need it to survive. But make sure the right people are getting burned by the heath.” 

Night was falling while we made our way through the forest, looking for the right spot to take off. I had a big clearing in mind, but Aïda stopped at a spot where the trees were just a bit further apart, and you could see the sky through a small opening in the roof of leaves. The bright crimson of the sunset was slowly fading into a deep purple. 

“You can fly through that?” I asked her. “I like a challenge.” Aïda said, that smirk again on her face. “Are you ready to go to my secret liar of torture and pain?” I almost stopped breathing, but then I realized this was just her twisted sense of humor, so I just gave her a look. “Good, you are a quick learner. Let’s go.” 

She stepped closer and put one hand around my waist and the other underneath my knees, ready to lift me of the floor. “I just realized. I never even told you my name!” I said to Aïda. “Oh no! You’re family must be shocked and ashamed of your lack of good manners! Lucky for you girl, I already know your name. I heard your father call you over and over again two nights a go.” again that sarcastic tone in her voice that I slowly began to get used to. “Then why do you keep calling me girl?” “Until you stop acting like a little girl, and start being the bad bitch you actually are, I will keep calling you girl.”

And with that she lifted me and we shot to the sky.


	3. Chapter three

We were flying. Actually flying. I had expected to be afraid, but I wasn’t at all. The wind hit my face as we quietly soared through the darkening twilight. I felt like this was the first time I had ever been able to breath. 

I had no clue for how long we were flying. I even dozed off at one point. And when I looked up again the crescent moon had travelled to the other side of the sky, and the terrain beneath us had become wilder. We were now flying through mountains. The trees taller than I had ever seen. The ground rocky and grey. 

“Don’t scream” was Aïda’s only warning right before we dropped down, straight towards the side of a mountain. I was sure we were going to crash in to it and had every intention to start screaming when Aïda angled her body and sailed into an nearly invisible opening. Everything was dark, and I had absolutely no clue how she knew where to go but she navigated the cave tunnels flawlessly, sometimes nearly missing a wall of hard rock. 

My eyes had gotten used to the dark, and when we flew out of the tunnel the night sky was almost blinding. I wondered why Aïda hadn’t just flown around the mountain or over it when I saw it. We were still inside the mountain. It was somehow hollow. 

“Impressive isn’t it?” Aïda said when seeing the stunned look on my face. “we found it by accident. The mountain is to high to fly over, and the peak is always covered in clouds. Even if any Illyrian would come to this part of the land we would still be invisible. If not for the help of the mountain, we still would be for how we set up camp.”

Aïda lowered towards the trees, getting ready to land, and it wasn’t until we almost skimmed the top of the trees that I saw it. People lived here. There were buildings between the trees. I wasn’t sure if I should call them tents or houses. They seem to have been build from whatever material available. Canvas, wood, stone, clay. Some even had a chimney, while others weren’t more than a tiny shelter against the wind and rain. 

We landed in a clearing near the rocky wall of the hollowed out mountain. Aïda whistled twice as soon as her feet touched the ground. A short whistle was the response from somewhere in between the trees. “This way the ones on guard duty will know it’s me.” She said while gently putting me on my feet. My entire body was sore from being in the same position for so long, but Aïda offered me an arm to lean on. 

We walked towards the wall of rock, or Aïda walked and I stumbled along, clinging to her arm. Only once we got closer to the wall I noticed the cave entrances. They seemed to be everywhere, in all shapes and sizes. 

Aïda led me to what looked like a tiny opening compared to some of the other gaping cavemouths, but as soon as we turned the corner I realized this was the biggest cave I had ever seen. My house could’ve fitted five times in it. The small opening did a good job of concealing everything inside. The warmth from the fires, the smells of food, the sound of trickling water, and a female humming a quiet song.

“You’re up early.” Aïda said to the female, who hadn’t even looked up from the fruit she was peeling. “You know me, I’d rather cook than sleep.” She finished hollowing out some type of citrus fruit I hadn’t seen before, and looked at us. Her face didn’t betray that she was surprised to see me, but her thoughts did. They where so loud. She might as well been screaming to me. Skinny. So skinny. She’s still a child. Aïda didn’t bother introducing me and left me standing while she walked to the nearest pot, simmering on a fire, lifted the lid and smelled with a look of approval. She almost put in a finger when the female spoke again. “By the mother Aïda, where are your manners!? You know better than to try to steal my food, and you haven’t even introduced our guest.”

She waved me over to the table where she was working. “Sit.” She said, gesturing to a chair. “Do you want something to drink or eat?” before I could even think about the question she was already moving. Filling a bowl with something from a large cauldron hanging over a fire. After the bowl was filled she brought it to me, the spoon still in her hand, turned around and flung the spoon straight at the back of Aïda’s head. It missed barely and Aïda whirled, still chewing on something. “Next time you steal my food, I won’t miss.” She said with an authority that had Aïda swallowing whatever sarcastic remark she had been thinking off. 

“You know what?” Aïda said while rubbing the food that had splattered from the spoon on to her head away. “I’m going to get some sleep. It will be sunrise soon and I plan to train with everyone else.” She walked by where I was sitting and quietly asked me “If you want to I can stay, or you can come with me and we’ll find you somewhere to sleep.” I shook my head. It wasn’t that I wasn’t tired, but I just didn’t want to go to sleep yet. Aïda didn’t wait for an explanation and left, and the female took the seat across from me.

“I’m Lina. The resident cook and spear thrower. The last one I mostly practice when people do not listen to the rules in my kitchen. The rules are simple, do not steal and don’t waste my food.” She gave a pointed look at the untouched bowl in front of me, and I quickly started eating. “We call it slob. It’s somewhere in between a soup and a stew, and it’s impossible to eat neatly. But it takes care of all the scraps left over and it’s nutritious. Now tell me your story.”

I swallowed a hot scoop of slob and tried to find somewhere to start. “My name is Zenna. And I’m fourteen.” My own thoughts where interrupted by the screaming thoughts of Lina. It wasn’t as much of a thought, but more a sob actually. Fourteen. It echoed in her mind. “I’m from Woodbound.” I blurted, trying to banish Lina’s pity and sadness. “That’s one of those tiny camps near the edge of the forest, right?” she asked and I simply nodded, quickly taking a bite in the hopes Lina would keep talking. I never liked talking, especially not about myself. 

“You’ll find that things are different here. We call our camp Skyward. Not just because we’re so high up, but also because for a lot of us it is the only place we ever got to fly.” She fluttered her wings a bit, that were tucked in so neatly behind her I hadn’t even noticed them. “My daughter and I came here five years ago. The three of us fled when the wing clipping started again. Unfortunately my husband didn’t make it.” This time the sadness wasn’t just in her loud thoughts, but in her expression. “I still remember when Dran found us. He is one of the few males in Skyward. My husband had already frozen to death, and I was certain I would be next. I begged him to save my daughter. He dryly asked if it would be okay with me if he saved us both. And he brought us here.”

“What is it like?” I asked in between bites of slob, that was surprisingly tasty. “Hard. We need to survive, train, and stay hidden at the same time. But we have a dry place to sleep and food in our bellies, some females that flee the camps end up way worse.” She was silent for a moment and an image entered her mind. Of a Illyrian female being burned alive, screaming and pleading. Lina snapped herself out of it. “There are eighteen of us here. Three males, fifteen females. Including me and my daughter. You’ll find a place in the daily rhythm soon enough.” 

Lina got up and started filling a bucket at a tiny stream of water coming down along the wall of the cave. “We have a hot spring more towards the middle of this mountain. After training a group will go for a hot bath and to do some laundry. You can also bathe at a nearby waterfall but it’s very cold. Or I could warm up some water for you and get you a towel.” Even though a hot bath sounded great, I couldn’t imagine bathing in front of others. Especially not strangers. “I’ll take the bucket.” I said, and Lina emptied the bucket in a kettle on the stove. “I will find you some clothes later. First you will need to meet with our camp-leader.” 

The blood drained from my face. My father is a camp-lord and I have met some of the others when they where visiting. Each and everyone of them had been harsh and cruel. “Who is the camp leader?” I asked shyly, while Lina was busy warming up some water. “I am.” A voice smooth as night said behind me. I turned around and looked right in to the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen, eyes so deep blue they where violet.


End file.
